Farage: Britons Will Become ‘Angrier’ at ‘Arrogant, Unelected’ Eurocrats

Dan Kitwood/Getty 31 Jan 2019

Brexit architect Nigel Farage warned that Britons will become “even more angry” with Brussels bureaucrats over their refusal to renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement.

Speaking to euronews on Thursday, the independent Member of European Parliament described the “arrogance, intransigence, no shift and no give from Brussels at all” over Prime Minister Theresa May’s attempts to remove the Irish backstop from the agreement.

“I just think these people, particularly the Junckers and the Barniers, the unelected European Commission, they are bigger, stronger, more powerful than national governments, than electorates.

“I suspect what you are going to get is the British public becoming even more angry about the way these negotiations are being handled.”

The Irish backstop is a mechanism that would keep Northern Ireland locked in regulatory alignment with the EU should the UK not agree a future relationship with the bloc by the end of the transition period in December 2020, effectively creating a customs border within the United Kingdom and posing a threat to the Union.

While Mr Farage called Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement “a completely unacceptable proposal” with “an Irish backstop that would only have been signed by a country defeated in war,” he argued that senior Brussels bureaucrats should be open to renegotiation, given that countries such as Germany, Italy, and France are dependent on trade with the UK.

Pointing to a practical solution to the impasse, Mr Farage said, “There is a way through this. Article 24 of the World Trade Organization will allow both sides to [operate on current trading arrangements] and we will have two years after Britain leaves to carry on tariff-free while we sort out a trade agreement.”

On Wednesday, Mr Farage warned his counterparts in the European Parliament that a no-deal Brexit was now more likely because of “fanatics who are not prepared to be reasonable or make any sense of compromise.”

“Unelected bureaucrats in Brussels have been talking down to, and humiliating the prime minister of our nation, and we don’t like it. And even when she comes back, trying to be reasonable, saying let’s renegotiate, you’re not prepared to give an inch.

“The reason a no-deal Brexit has got a little bit closer is the sheer language and attitude, not just from the Commission, but many in the [European] Parliament towards the United Kingdom.

“I think public opinion would be very, very angry that there is no give today from anybody in Brussels whatsoever,” the Brexiteer said.